Our research

The “Research” section of our personal website covers our published work in academic dance research (ethnography, anthropology and ethnochoreology) and our involvement in local dance practice.

Please see our website at eliznik.org.uk for dance, costume, music and ethnography.

You can find on us Academic.edu – Liz Mellish and Nick Green – where many papers are available, just follow the link to Academia.edu below the abstract.

Our ongoing research projects include:

Festivals and contemporary festivities in Banat
Romanian dancers and dance ensembles – lives and histories
The history and connections of Balkan dancing in the UK

We are active members of two ICTM study groups

Dance practices in the Danube Gorge region

The Danube Gorge in Romania connects the Banat plain region to the Oltenian region through the Banat mountains at the southern end of the Carpathians. The villages at the western end of the Gorge are predominantly Serbian where those at the eastern end are predominantly Romanian. The dance practices of …read more

Bob Leibman’s notation of weight-shift patterns in Balkan dances

Bob Leibman (a mathematician by profession) formulated a system based on his research of southern and western Balkan dances. Using Bob Leibman’s system to notate step “weight changes” we end up with a simple concept that generally remains invariant between different variants within a family of dances – for example Serbian Kolo 0111, Romanian Hora 1101, the ubiquitous Balkan dance 011 etc.

Dance transmission in contemporary Romania: Continuity, motivation and mentors

This paper explores the transmission of local dance knowledge in contemporary Romania by focussing on ‘motivation’ and ‘continuity’ as key parameters. We examine the methods currently used by dancers to acquire their local dance knowledge; the dance experience of the teachers and mentors who transmit this knowledge; and the situations …read more

Saints’ days, and village days: creating the space for community events in Romanian Banat

The annual celebration of designated days in villages is a widespread custom in southeastern Europe and beyond. In Christian locations these are often linked to the day of the patron saint of the village church. In Romanian Banat these are usually called ruga, plural ruge (literally prayer). Alternately the day …read more

Călușul at Rusalii and its overlapping contexts

The căluș ritual of southern Romania (also found in certain villages in northern Bulgaria) takes place every year at the time of Rusalii (Pentecost, 50 days after Orthodox Easter). The căluș has drawn the attention of many researchers, from a range of backgrounds and disciplines including folklorists, religious historians (spiritual …read more

Publications by Vera Proca Ciortea

Head of dance research at the Institute of Folklore (Bucharest). Vera Proca-Ciortea (1915-2002) from Sibiu studied at the National Academy of Physical Education in Bucharest (1932-1936), then further in Berlin (1937-1938) and again in Germany (1962-1981). She was a lecturer at the Institute of Physical Education, a university professor at …read more

Publications by Emanuela Bălăci

Dance researcher at the Institute of Folklore (Bucharest). Emanuela Bălăci (born 1930) studied at School of Choreography in Sibiu, and was a teacher at the School of Art in Sibiu (1952-1953), and then a folklorist-choreographer at Institute of Folklore (Bucharest) from 1953-1972, leaving to live in Germany from 1973. Her …read more

Publications by Constantin Costea

Dance researcher at the Institute of Folklore (Bucharest). Constantin Costea (1931–2002) from Bucharest was a dancer, choreographer and researcher. Between 1948 and 1959 he was a dancer, soloist and assistant ballet master at the C.F.R.Giulești Ensemble and a ballet master (folklorist choreographer) at the Institute of Folklore Bucharest from 1952. …read more

Publications by Andrei Bucșan

Dance researcher at the Institute of Folklore (Bucharest). Andrei Bucșan (1921–1995) from Bucharest graduated from university in literature and philosophy. He initially worked in industry until 1951 when he became a researcher at the Institute of History in Bucharest (1951-1954), then at the Institute of Ethnography and Folklore (IEF) (1954-1974). …read more

Balkan folk dance in the UK

The “Balkan dance” scene emerged as a sub-scene of the recreational “international folk dance” scene in the post second world war period in the US, UK, Netherlands and other western European countries, as well as in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. However the history of interest in dances …read more

Liz and Nick

Our biography and research